Sedimentary rocks occurred throughout much of the Late Jurassic Cordilleran margin of Laurasia. Their tectonic setting and provenance are critical to understanding the evolution of the Cordilleran margin during this time. We review published detrital zircon ages and new and published whole-rock geochemistry of the Peshastin Formation and Darrington Phyllite, Cascade Mountains, Washington State, with the goal of better understanding the tectonic development of the Cordillera and strengthening regional correlations of these sedimentary units. The Peshastin Formation conformably overlies the ca. 161 Ma Ingalls ophiolite complex. Published dating of detrital zircons from a Peshastin Formation sandstone provided a youngest U-Pb age distribution of ca. 152 Ma and a significant U-Pb age distribution of ca. 232 Ma. The Darrington Phyllite is structurally above the Shuksan Greenschist; however, this unit also occurs interbedded with the Shuksan Greenschist. The Darrington Phyllite and Shuksan Greenschist have been grouped into the Easton Metamorphic Suite. Published detrital zircons from a Darrington Phyllite metasandstone have a youngest U-Pb age distribution of ca. 155 Ma and a significant U-Pb age distribution of ca. 238 Ma. New major- and trace-element geochemistry and previously published sandstone petrography suggest that these units were derived from Late Jurassic volcanic arc sources that were predominantly transitional between mafic and intermediate compositions. Middle to Late Triassic detrital zircon ages and detrital modes suggest that some recycling of older accreted arc terranes also contributed to these sediments; however, this Middle to Late Triassic component could also be first cycle. These units consistently plot on geochemical diagrams in fields defined by modern back-arc basin turbidites. The youngest detrital zircon age distributions, detrital sandstone petrography, and geochemistry of these units suggest they formed in Late Jurassic arc-fed basins. We suggest that the Peshastin Formation and Darrington Phyllite are age correlative and formed in an arc-proximal back-arc basin that could have initiated by forearc rifting. Postulated restoration of latest Cretaceous to Cenozoic faulting places these Late Jurassic basins near the Galice Formation and underlying Josephine ophi-olite, Klamath Mountains, Oregon-California. The Galice Formation and underlying Josephine ophiolite have been correlated with the Peshastin Formation and Ingalls ophiolite complex. After postulated Late Jurassic accretion to the North American margin, the Peshastin Formation and Darrington Phyllite were dextrally displaced to the north before they were emplaced in their current position by thrust faulting during the Late Cretaceous.

Abstract The magmatic arc represented by the crystalline core of the North Cascades (Cascades core) reached a crustal thickness of >55 km in the mid-Cretaceous. Eocene collapse of the arc was marked by migmatization, magmatism, and exhumation of deep-crustal (9-12 kb) rocks at the same time as subsidence and rapid deposition in nearby transtensional nonmarine basins. The largest region of deeply exhumed rocks, the migmatitic Skagit Gneiss Complex, consists primarily of leucocratic, biotite tonalite orthogneiss intruded between ca. 76-59 Ma and 50-45 Ma. Well-layered biotite gneiss is also widespread. U-Pb (isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry) dating of zircon and monazite from trondhjemitic leucosome and biotite gneiss mesosome indicates that metamorphism and melt generation/crystallization occurred at least intermittently from ca. 71 to 47 Ma, and the youngest U-Pb dates overlap Ar/Ar (biotite, muscovite) dates, compatible with rapid cooling. Mesoscopic to map-scale, gently plunging, upright folds have hinge lines subparallel to orogen-parallel (NW-SE) lineations in the Skagit Gneiss Complex, and are as young as 48 Ma. Eocene top-to-northwest flow occurred in parts of the complex. The gently to moderately dipping foliation, subhorizontal lineation, and constrictional domains are compatible with ductile transtension linked to dextral-normal displacement on the Ross Lake fault system, the northeastern boundary of the Cascades core. On the south flank of the core, sediments were deposited in part at ca. 51 Ma in the Swauk basin and shortly afterward folded, and then intruded by 47 Ma Teanaway basaltic dikes. Extension taken up by these dikes ranges from ~10% to 43%. Extension directions from Teanaway and other Eocene dikes are arc-parallel to arc-oblique. The shallow-crustal extension direction is counterclockwise (mostly 10°-30°) to the ductile flow direction, implying decoupling of brittle and ductile crust; however, some coupling is supported by the temporal coincidence between basin formation and partial melting and ductile flow, and the upright folding of both the Skagit Gneiss Complex and Swauk basin. Arc-oblique to arc-parallel flow probably resulted in part from dextral shear along the plate margin, along-strike gradients in crustal thickness, and thermally controlled rheology.

The crystalline core of the North Cascades arc records the Cretaceous to Paleogene history of magmatism, deformation, and crustal growth along a segment of the North American Cordillera. The Nd isotopic compositions of granitoid plutons that intrude the Cascades core are a product of their source regions, and they provide probes of the crustal architecture. We present Sm-Nd isotopic data from 96 Ma to 45 Ma plutons and meta-igneous and metasedimentary terranes across the Cascades core. Sm-Nd data from all metamorphic terranes, excluding the much younger ca. 73 Ma Swakane terrane, yield mid-Cretaceous ε Nd values that range from +8.5 to −1.9 and indicate minor involvement of an enriched crustal component. Amphibolites from the Napeequa complex and Chiwaukum Schist yield near-depleted-mantle ε Nd values in the mid-Cretaceous, and ε Nd values from meta-clastic rocks from these terranes (+3.4 to −1.9) have an isotopic character that is intermediate between arc-derived and continental-shelf (miogeocline) sediments, reflecting a mixture of these two sources. Initial ε Nd values of the Swakane Gneiss range from +0.6 to −5.4 and reflect a significant input from the miogeocline. The initial ε Nd values of the Late Cretaceous to Paleogene plutons studied range from +1.5 to +6.3, consistent with geochemical studies that indicate the plutons were generated by mixing of mantle-derived melt and melt derived by anatexis of the underlying terranes. Initial ε Nd values of plutons from the NE part of the Cascades core generally decrease over time, suggesting a greater contribution of melt from evolved crustal sources, which may reflect a change in the physical parameters of melting. The metamorphic terranes of the North Cascades show a close affinity to the Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous arc terranes of the southern Coast Belt. The similarity in isotopic character supports the assumption that the North Cascades terranes formed in a position outboard of the North American craton but in close enough proximity to derive sediments from the miogeocline. Variations in Nd signature are also observed between the northern and southern Coast plutonic complex, and they indicate changes in the sources of crustal melting along the length of the Cretaceous arc.

The Cordilleran Coast Plutonic Complex comprises the roots of a middle Cretaceous to Paleogene magmatic arc and orogenic belt that extends from the Yukon Territory to Washington State. Exceptional rock exposure and mineral preservation have made the Cascades crystalline core, the southernmost exposure of the Coast Plutonic Complex, a laboratory for understanding mid-crustal processes in contractional magmatic arcs. Perhaps surprisingly, after decades of study, fundamental tectonic models for the Late Cretaceous evolution of the core remain in question. This study evaluates tectonic models using phase equilibrium modeling, thermobarometry, and high-precision geochronology to constrain present crustal structure and the magnitudes, rates, and lateral preservation of Late Cretaceous regional metamorphism across the Nason terrane, Wenatchee block, Cascades crystalline core. Garnet Sm-Nd ages of 88–86 Ma restrict the last regional metamorphism to no less than 3 m.y. after emplacement of the 96–91 Ma Mount Stuart batholith. These ages and petrologic data reflecting only negligible to moderate pressure increases (0–3.6 kbar) during garnet growth indicate a time lag between a fairly rapid pressure increase (up to 0.5 kbar/m.y.) subsequent to low-pressure contact metamorphism associated with emplacement of the Mount Stuart batholith and temperature increases during initial garnet growth. This thermal relaxation signature supports a thrust-loading model for post–Mount Stuart regional metamorphism. The lateral extent and magnitude of regional metamorphism across the Nason terrane and Mount Stuart domain offer additional support for a tectonic loading model for regional metamorphism. Peak recorded pressures decrease from >8 kbar in the northeast of the terrane to 5 kbar southwest of the Mount Stuart batholith, compatible with loading by a tapered thrust sheet, followed by exhumation and shortening after peak metamorphism. The lack of structural evidence for thrusting and steepening of the paleobarometric gradient across the Nason terrane north of the batholith suggest that strain-partitioned folding was dominant at the exposed crustal level during and after the last regional metamorphism. Thus, a tectonic model compatible with metamorphic P-T data may include a decoupling of upper-crustal and mid-crustal shortening accommodation mechanisms during Late Cretaceous regional metamorphism.